Victims will force police into action

That’s why we proposed a community trigger as part of our reforms to anti-social behaviour laws.

Home Secretary Theresa May

Five complaints from different residents in the same area will force police and councils to act.

Pilot schemes will be launched this summer in trouble hotspots with problem families threatened with eviction from their council homes.

A range of problems, including noise, loutish behaviour, threatening language and drunkenness, will be tackled.

Home Secretary Theresa May said the Government acted in the wake of horror stories like that of Fiona Pilkington, who killed herself and her disabled daughter after complaining to Leicestershire Police 33 times over persistent harassment from tearaways.

Mrs May, 55, said she hoped the powers would stop troubled neighbourhoods from becoming no-go zones.

She said: “Many police forces, councils and housing providers are working hard, but I still hear horror stories of victims reporting the same problem over and over again, and getting no response.

“These long-running problems and the sense of helplessness that goes with them can destroy a victim’s quality of life and shatter a community’s trust in the police. That’s why we proposed a community trigger as part of our reforms to anti-social behaviour laws.

“The trigger will give victims and communities the right to demand that agencies, who ignored a problem, take action.”

Research shows 40% of council tenants have suffered at the hands of yobs in the past two years. But Labour’s Shadow Home Office Minister Gloria De Piero, 39, said the plan would have little impact.

She said: “After two years of doing nothing to tackle anti-social behaviour, the Home Secretary has to do better than a few pilots that won’t start until the summer and which seem to suggest that anti-social behaviour should not be taken seriously if only two or three people complain.”